


A step to the left (and right off the cliff)

by weavingBlue



Category: Naruto
Genre: Crack, Fluff, Gen, Kakashi is not the best at kids, Misunderstandings, Multi, Rock Lee/Sasuke and Hinata/Sasuke Rivalryships, Sakura wants to be Hokage too, Sasuke is very done with his teammates, but he tries, is that a thing?, pre-Sakura/Sasuke/Naruto, sorta - Freeform, who knows - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-13
Updated: 2020-11-13
Packaged: 2021-03-09 18:08:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,433
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27540559
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/weavingBlue/pseuds/weavingBlue
Summary: Team Seven starts off on a different foot and Sasuke's canonical journey to get stronger goes off the rails a bit. It all works out though. Probably.
Relationships: Haruno Sakura/Uchiha Sasuke/Uzumaki Naruto, Hyuuga Hinata & Uchiha Sasuke, Rock Lee & Uchiha Sasuke
Comments: 30
Kudos: 138
Collections: Moonstruck Blossom's favorites





	A step to the left (and right off the cliff)

"-and as for hobbies, well... I have lots of hobbies." Their new sensei directs an insincere eye smile at them. Sasuke feels his eye twitch at the completely useless introduction. "All right, you next. Pinky."

"What I like- I mean the person I like is-" Sakura giggles and glances at him. Subtle she is not. Sasuke wonders how harmful his seemingly persistent eye twitch could be to a dōjutsu wielder. Well, he doesn't have his Sharingan yet, but it was only a matter of time, even with these two idiots dragging him down.

Sasuke tunes back into the conversation when the jōnin gives a weary sigh and asks, "And your dreams for the future?"

"To become the Hokage! Shannaro!"

What? Sasuke actually turns to make sure that it wasn't the blond dead-last who'd answered.

He wasn't the only one.

"What, what, whaaat?" Naruto was up and pinwheeling his arms around. "I'm gonna be Hokage! Not that you can't do anything you want to Sakura-chan! Of course not! But but but..." The blond looks torn between cheering on his crush and defending his long time dream. "But no! You're great and cool and pretty but... I'm not going to give up! Even if that means our love is doomed!" Naruto turns to face their sensei. "My name is Uzumaki Naruto and I will be the Hokage! Believe it!"

Sasuke just wants to have this done with so that they can get to training. "I'm Uchiha Sasuke and-" Annoyingly enough, he gets cut off by the ticked off kunoichi. Wasn't she hanging off of his every word just a minute ago?

"'Our love'? Are you delusional? Who'd want to date you? Besides, look at your grades. I'm clearly the better choice for Hokage!"

Sasuke decides to ignore the farce playing out around him and goes on, "I don't have anything I like." - the dobe is flailing as he says something to the girl, and both of them are completely ignoring him. As if they think _they're_ better than _him!_ -"and I have a lot of things I dislike." He pointedly sneers out the last word at them. Irritatingly enough, it goes right over their heads as they continue to bicker. He closes his eyes and counts to three. It would probably be bad if he attacked his teammates on the first day in front of the jōnin, even if they were useless idiots.

"My goal for the future... is to kill a certain man."

He opens his eyes to find that the jōnin sensei has also gone to the side to break apart the two morons and their now heated declarations of Hokage-ship.

A stray wind blows by. No one's listening to him at all.

Sasuke feels distinctly left out.

  


* * *

  


One bell test and 6 D-ranks later, Sasuke is ready to drown himself. Or his teammates. Scratch that, definitely his teammates.

At first, he'd assured himself that he'd show them their place during their missions, and then their sensei would realize his true skills and focus his efforts where it really mattered. And preferably send the other two back to the Academy while he was at it.

But the problem with that was that the "missions" were just glorified chores and he could barely work up any motivation to get them done. This wasn't what he'd signed up for, damn it! He'd never get strong enough to defeat That Man like this!

"Woohoo! I'm almost done with this section Sakura-chan! I'm not gonna lose to you! Hokage hat, here I come!"

"Baka! As if weeding a garden quickly is enough to make you Hokage. Ugh. Why don't you just use your shadow clones anyway? With the number you spammed during the test, we could be done by mid-day."

"Oh. OH! Sakura-chan is so smaaaaar- wait, I mean, of course, I thought of that already. Because that's what a Hokage does- err, thinks of these things. I was just umm... I was just testing you! Ahahaha that's it! Tiger seal! Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

"You clearly weren't thinking at all. A Hokage should- Naruto! Those aren't weeds! Stop or we won't get paid, again! Aaaargh-!"

Sasuke glowers at his teammates as they continued to yell at each other, racing their way through the fields at the same time.

He was brooding so intently that he nearly jumps when a large hand lands on his head. His sensei looks down at him, that orange book in his other hand and his single visible eye curved. "You'd better hurry up or they'll leave you behind. They're nearly there you know." He ruffles his hair and goes back to lazing by the fence. Sasuke feels like there's some deeper lesson beneath the jōnin's words. Then the man turns a page, letting out a perverted giggle.

Never mind. Sasuke whips around and irritably attacks the weeds in front of him.

Stupid teammates. Stupid perverted sensei. Stupid weeds.

  


* * *

  


"Sparrow to position A. Over."

"Monkey to position B. Just watch Sak- Sparrow-chan, I'll get the target in no time!"

"Damn it N-Monkey, don't use my real name over the comms. And you can't just rush in, the target is-"

Sasuke just tunes them out and sighs. He stifles a yawn for the third time and looks up to find himself locking eyes with the target, barely eight feet in front of him. Wasn't it supposed to be near Monkey's position?

Sasuke stares.

The cat stares back.

He thinks for a second about informing his teammates and closing formation, probably the point of this exercise. A fourth, massive yawn cuts off that train of thought.

He blinks.

The cat continues to stare.

Tch. It was far too early for this, he decides and crouches down, holding out a palm.

"Duck reporting. Target secured." He mutes the shrieks coming from the comms and makes his way toward the designated meet-up point near the tower.

He walks in at a leisurely pace, absently scratching the cat sitting contentedly in his arms.

His two teammates stare at him in shock. Even his sensei looks a bit startled at the placid cat he's holding.

'Who's the best now?' he thinks but doesn't bother saying. Ugh, it really was too early for this.

He feels the blond scoop the cat out of his arms, saying, "Aw hey, it's so calm and friendly! Demon cat? Pfft, what was that chūnin even taking abou-YEEOUCH! AHH GET AWAY GET AWAY!"

Sasuke blearily opens his eyes to see Naruto shriek as the cat violently claws its way out of his hold. Naruto topples over backward and scuttles back on the ground as quickly as he can.

The cat lands neatly in front of the blond and pads its way over to Sasuke. It looks up at him and mewls. Sasuke picks it up, running his hand down its flank as the cat immediately cuddled into his arms.

"Ehhh?! No fair! How come it didn't scratch you?" Naruto gives the cat a betrayed look.

Felines have always been particular to the Uchiha since the contract with Neko-baa. Sasuke thinks about explaining all this to his team. Then he thinks about the last time he'd gone to visit Neko-baa, thinks about whom he'd gone to visit her with, and closes his mouth and shrugs.

"Sasuke-kun is so cool! Of course the cat would go to him." Sakura gushes. Perhaps it was a mark of how little she'd pestered him in the past week, too caught up in her competition with Naruto, that Sasuke doesn't even feel a twinge of irritation at her words. Or it was just the early hour. Sasuke was not a morning person.

Sasuke scratches behind the cat's ears, causing it to purr happily back. He doesn't notice the small smile he gives at the sound.

Nor does he notice his team reel in shock.

"T-that was actually kinda cu-AAAH! I mean, you're trying to show me up, aren't you teme? Well, it's not going to work! I'm going ace the next mission so well that it'll be declared the ultimate mission to end all missions! Believe it!"

Sakura's fist twitches. "That makes no sense Naruto-baka! Taking mission classifications into account - "

Sasuke tunes out the bickering again and tries to focus on his sensei. He can feel another yawn coming up futilely tries to fight it down. Was the jōnin going to reprimand him for not working as a team?

Kakashi-sensei just sighs, pats Sasuke on the head, and calls out, "Hokage tower, mission desk. Be there in ten minutes." and disappears in a swirl of leaves.

Naruto and Sakura fall into place on either side of him as they head back, still bickering. Sasuke works a hand free from the cat and tentatively raises it to the top of his head, letting it rest there for a second before smoothing his hair back into place.

Oddly enough, the morning doesn't feel so annoying anymore.

  


* * *

  


The bridge builder is annoying, but Sasuke puts up with worse regularly. Dare he say it, he may even have built up a tolerance for bullshit.

"Eeh? Catra? What's that?"

Nope, never mind, there's that eye twitch again. How had Naruto not learned of chakra in the four years of classes they'd had at the Academy? How had he passed the final exam? How the fuck had he learned a technique like Kage Bunshin no Jutsu without knowing of it??

Naruto listens to Sakura's explanation of chakra as if this was the first time he'd heard any of it.

"Oh, so that warm fuzzy thing I feel when I do jutsus is catra!"

"Chakra, Naruto. It's called chakra." Sakura corrects, still looking as incredulous as he felt.

Okay, so he knew to access chakra, and to use it for techniques - poorly - he just had somehow never heard of its name before? Sasuke guesses that that made a slight bit more sense. Still largely implausible though. Just... how?

Ugh, his blond teammate lives to give him headaches.

At least he isn't the only one suffering, Sasuke thinks, involuntarily exchanging a baffled glance with Sakura.

  


* * *

  


Sasuke tries to calm his racing pulse. He wasn't dead yet, but that had been far too close a call. He couldn't remember deciding to jump between the chūnin missing-nin and the pink-haired annoyance - though perhaps she hasn't been as bad recently. He'd just seen her standing there as an enemy surged forward to slice one of his teammate's neck and his body had just moved to prevent it. Not that it would have done any more good than his attempts to stop his br-That Man.

Weak.

He is still so weak.

At this rate, he's never going to be able to avenge his clan. Will never be able to kill _him_. Sasuke broods over the thought as he stares at his clenched fist, his knuckles strained white. There has to be some way he can progress faster. He just needs to find it.

He is also sure that he isn't the only one frustrated by the way the fight turned out. The blond's expression has been blazing with determination ever since his declaration at the end of the fight, and while Sasuke might have once dismissed the tears barely held back by their kunoichi teammate to be from fear, he now knows her enough to recognize the look of extreme self-directed frustration on her face.

He's brought back from his thoughts when Kakashi-sensei returns. He is alone, and even Naruto thinks better than to ask where the missing-nin are. Or more likely, the dobe just hasn't figured out the implications.

"Sensei, sensei! Who were those guys? They just appeared like that!-" The blond gestures wildly, "and then you were dead but then you weren't and and- Who were they? What did they even want with us?"

Sensei hums a little in acknowledgment and turns to the bridge builder, "Yes, Tanzuna-san, that is the question. What could they have possibly wanted from us? Or should I say, what could they have wanted from _you?_ "

The bridge builder's flinch confirms the jōnin's words even before he can open his mouth to spout denials. Kakashi-sensei cuts him off with a wave of his hand and watches him with deceptive calmness while the bridge builder gulps.

"They could have come for any of us. Villages do occasionally hire rogue nin to do away with their competition's genin before they can grow stronger, and I myself have a ...not inconsiderable bounty on my head. But no. Their target was you, a traveling builder on his way home, who claimed quite clearly that the only thing he was worried about was wild animals and bandits. So I'll ask you again, Tanzuna-san" Kakashi-sensei gives a rather different eye smile, and Sasuke is sure that the air actually grows colder, "What did they want from you?"

  


* * *

  


Sasuke later looks back on that moment and wonders for just a moment whether they'd made the right call to continue with that mission anyway. He then buries it with all the other thoughts he deems weak.

Still, he can't deny that they're certainly in an unfavorable situation now, with their sensei trapped in a Water Prison jutsu leaving him and his teammates as the only thing standing between Zabuza's clone and the mission target.

The mist starts to feel cloying around them and Sasuke's thoughts feel distant compared to the thundering beat of his heart. Then the dobe forms more clones and charges towards the Zabuza-clone trampling his hitai-ate. Sasuke falls into step with him on instinct. He knows that Sakura is somewhere behind them, guarding the client and trying to provide them cover under a rain of decently aimed senbon.

Being unable to determine which Naruto is the real one by sight means that his Fireball jutsu was out, so Sasuke ducks and weaves his way past the shadow clones being destroyed around him and punches off the ground to shoot an upwards kick to the jōnin-clone's chin.

The clone side steppes the attack and subsequent leg sweep and turns to focus on him, amusement lancing his voice at Sasuke's frustrated scowl. "Oh ho, so you think you can take me out just because you know some basic taijutsu? You wouldn't have lasted a minute into the graduation exams. Sorry brat, but this pool has far larger fish than you're used to. Hungry, monstrous fish who would swallow you in one gulp." The clone punctuates his remark with a debilitating hit to his torso, and Sasuke can't stop himself from crumpling to the ground. The clone kicks down and there's a sickening snap. It's all Sasuke can do to not scream as pain shoots up his leg.

Still, Sasuke tries to push himself out of the way as the clone's sword sweeps down, no less deadly for being formed from chakra lanced water. An inhuman snarl fills the air and the Zabuza-clone whirls around. It's not quite quick enough to avoid whatever plows into him. The clone roughly crashes down against Sasuke and dissipates. Sasuke barely has time to register a pair of slitted pupils in familiar-yet-not eyes before his head cracks against a rock and everything goes black.

  


* * *

  


When Sasuke wakes up, he's in the bridge builder's house. His head is still pounding, and trying to move his leg is an exercise in pain.

He learns that he'd been out for the past few days, with small splotches of consciousness that he can barely remember. And then he learns that his sensei had begun actually training his teammates and feels a ball of impotent fury swell in his stomach.

Naruto gives him an over-exaggerated recount of how he and Sakura managed to free Kakashi-sensei from his prison, and a shifty explanation about his apparently secret Uzumaki kekkei genkai that Sasuke listens to with barely half an ear. His journey has hardly started and he is already falling behind. Perhaps he really is as weak as his br-That Man claimed.

Nothing can pull him out of his black mood for the next few days, especially after hearing that Naruto has starting to get the hang of tree walking while Sakura has long since completed it and moved on to water walking. He argues and shouts and seethes, but Kakashi-sensei continues to maintain that any training would put a lasting toll on his healing and that drain on physical chakra might just make things worse, especially given the nature of his injuries and the lack of any medic-nin anytime soon. 

His teammates start to walk on eggshells around him until Sakura sneaks up to him one evening offering to teach the genjutsu she'd used. Sasuke's first instinct is to scoff, but he makes himself stop and chooses to accept the offer. Any kind of training would be better than sitting around while the others start to move ahead of him. He won't fall behind. _He won't._

Kakashi-sensei catches him sneaking off with Naruto to try tree walking innumerable times, but just hauls him back muttering nonsense about his own teachers, and their presumed smugness at Kakashi-sensei's current situation. Sasuke has no idea what he's going on about and just opts to scowl darkly at him. At least the genjutsu lessons haven't been stopped, and Sakura proves to be a pretty good teacher. Also, Naruto is hilariously bad at it, and watching him sulk is pretty amusing. Sasuke doubts the jōnin doesn't know about the lessons though. Perhaps he was holding back from interfering because genjutsu was mostly taxing on mental chakra with very little of the physical. (At this point, Kakashi is just glad to see the tiny storm cloud interact positively in any way with his teammates.)

  


* * *

  


It all comes to a head one day when hired thugs attack the little house while Tanzuna and the rest of Sasuke's team have left for the bridge. Sasuke saves Tsunami and the brat-Inari, with a combination of bukijutsu and genjutsu.

After trapping the area around the house and telling the two civilians of the safe path he's left clear in case they needed to get away, he stubbornly limps his way over to the bridge. His leg throbs continuously in its cast but it's still worlds better than it had been at the end of the last fight, so Sasuke elects to ignore it as best as he can and push on. He refuses to just sit and wait, injury be damned.

  


* * *

  


When all was said and done, the bridge builder is still alive, the dobe gets a bridge named after him and Sasuke's leg is in far worse shape.

At least it won't last long this time. They're headed home and there are medic-nin at Konoha that can fix even breaks like this in barely a day. Sasuke tries to focus on that to take his mind off the indignity of being hauled over his sensei's shoulder like a sack of potatoes. He hardly even got much of a lecture on recklessness this time. Just a resigned sigh and a heavenwards gaze. He thinks he might be wearing his sensei down.

That thought probably shouldn't cheer him up but he's feeling rather vindictive at the moment. If he has to be frustrated and miserable, there is no reason his teacher shouldn't be too. (His brother had always teased him for being a terrible patient)

  


* * *

  


He's not sure who's more relieved when he steps out of the hospital with a clean bill of health.

  


* * *

  


Life back at the village feels just a step out of place. It's in the look of grim determination on the faces of his teammates; their mission opening their eyes to a harsher reality. It's in the medical texts Sakura now pores over while they wait for Kakashi-sensei. It's in the efforts Naruto puts into clearing up the long seated mistakes in his sloppy taijutsu forms.

It's in the firm determination - rather than bravado - in their voices as they state their intent to become strong enough, smart enough, to become Hokage. To just become enough to protect everyone.

It's an absurd and impossible goal, but it fuels them.

The mission affects Sasuke too, but the change sits uncomfortably on him. It's in the way he's practicing tree walking whenever he can fit it in, desperately trying to catch up to Naruto, let alone Sakura. It's in the growing pressure he feels every time he returns to the clan compound as if he's letting his family down by being slow, being weak. It's in the way he looks at his teammates, remembers reflexively stepping in front of them to protect their lives even when that came at risk his own. (If he died, who would avenge his clan? But what if he'd been a second slower on the Wave mission and failed to save his team too?) He wonders when he began to count this team as his.

The contradictions grow uncomfortable under his skin, so he turns to what has always steadied him. He trains.

He trains and trains till he reopens the injury in his leg and passes out on the Uchiha training grounds. He wakes up to a blistering lecture from the medic-nin on his case after a patrolling ANBU drops him off at the hospital. She bans him from training for the next day even though he's completely healed, really, and Kakashi-sensei seems to take too much smug satisfaction in concurring with her.

He's left to sit on the sidelines and watch his teammates spar, with a half-hearted mutter from his sensei of learning not to work himself to the ground the next time, and- And, it feels like he's stuck in Wave all over again, falling to the shadows as his teammates shine brighter and brighter. His thoughts turn inwards as Naruto and Sakura fall into their usual pattern of inane declarations, even as steel clashed against steel. Just what is he doing wrong? What do they have that he doesn'-

"What a Glorious display of the Youthful Fires of Rivalry! Why, it even reminds me of our own Beautiful Relationship, where our Magnificent Competitions pushed us to Insurmountable Heights!"

Sasuke stares at the green... person? ... who's just landed in their training field, mission scroll in hand. He's not the only one either. Even the Hokage-obsessed idiots have stopped their match to gape at him.

"Kaka-sensei, is he..?"

"I've never seen him before in my life", their teacher states flatly, his gaze never moving from his book.

"Ah, my hip and cool rival, your quick tongue has bested me once again!"

Sasuke vaguely hears Naruto ask a question in a strangled voice but he's too swept up by his new revelation to focus.

That's what he doesn't have.

That's what he needs.

A rival. Someone to challenge him and push his strength to new limits.

He fails to stifle a smirk. He just knows he's on the right track now. It worked for his teammates after all. Now all he has to do now is find one.

How hard could it be?

  


* * *

  


"-and I declare you my rival. Nothing shall stand in the way of your all-encompassing soul-crushing defeat at my hands. You shall know no solace for all that you do, I shall do better, until the sheer realization of your inferiority shall consume your every thought. Nothing less than my death will stop me from stepping over you like the insignificant worm that you are!" Sasuke pants, internally cringing after making his declaration. It would be worth it though. He had put a great deal of effort into choosing his words, and if Naruto's and Sakura's nonsensical words were enough to spur a rivalry of that intensity, then surely this would be enough to provoke a response that could match up to his own level. There was no way the senior genin in front of him would take this silently. He had a reputation for attacking those younger than him anyway and was skilled enough that the corps hadn't pulled him from their ranks for it. Sasuke tenses, and waits for the other to attack. His eyes bore unblinkingly into the older teens, trying to convey that he would take their new rivalry seriously.

The young man's shoulders shift slightly. Sasuke's hand twitches towards his weapons pouch.

"P-please just leave me aloneeee!" The sixteen-year-old wails as he runs away, giant tears rolling down his cheeks.

Sasuke blinks at his retreating back, completely baffled. That was the twenty-fourth one this week.

Was it something he said?

  


* * *

  


"Hatake! Your brat is our traumatizing the corps again! Do something about it!"

"Would it be too insensitive to say that he comes by it rather honestly? No? Man, I miss ANBU trauma humor. Things are so much more complicated when the majority in any given room is expected to not be traumatized."

"...you should not be allowed near children."

  


* * *

  


Sasuke is at the end of his patience. Every single genin he's challenged has run away crying and anyone over that rank seems to find him either hilarious or adorable and refuses to take him seriously. Except for that one chūnin who had that breakdown. Even Sasuke feels vaguely embarrassed for him. Definitely not what he was looking for in a rival though.

Was there really no one around who would be up for an actual challenge?

  


* * *

  


(In a training ground, not too far away)

"-and if I can't run twenty laps around Konoha, I will do one thousand sit-ups! And if I fail to complete that, I shall scale the Hokage hopping on only one foot five thousand times! Gai sensei, I will not let you down!"

"Lee!"

"Gai-sensei!"

The other two genin in the field feel an odd sense of foreboding. 

  


* * *

  


"-I swear to protect you with my life."

"Eh?"

"So please be my girlfriend!"

Team Seven stares at the mini-clone talking to Sakura. They'd just about wrapped up the impromptu joint training session suggested by Kakashi-sensei's supposed 'Eternal Rival' and it had actually been rather useful. Team Gai had a year of experience over them and it showed in their spars. They lost nearly all the matches but you wouldn't be able to tell from the look of satisfied bloodlust on their faces. Kakashi happily ignores the voice in his head telling him that this was exactly why normal people found his team so disturbing.

This wasn't quite how they were expecting the day to end though. In retrospect, they probably should have expected an unexpected end to the session. The boy's teacher had appeared on a speedy tortoise wearing green spandex after all.

"Ano... I'm flattered Lee-san, and you make an excellent sparring partner but uh... No."

"Why?"

"Er.." 'Because you run around wearing green spandex.' all three of them think, but don't say. Tenten just sighs and pats him on the back.

"Anyway, I should be headed back. I promised dad I'd pick up the groceries for dinner. Bye!" Sakura waves and gladly leaves the awkward atmosphere.

Naruto backs up, sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck. "Umm... I need to go stock up on ramen before they run out. See you around!"

Sasuke stands around for a second, finally reads the atmosphere, and turns around to silently powerwalk away.

"Wait!"

The Uchiha teen jerks to a stop as Lee suddenly appears before him, arms spread apart as if to block his way. He sneers and looks up. There is a conveniently placed branch a few meters away, and his accuracy with chakra powered jumps has been getting better...

"Sasuke-san, you've been in her class since the beginning of your most Youthful Journey. Please, tell me what I must do to convince her of my devotion!"

'Devotion... after knowing her for all of five hours. Gah. Sure. Whatever.' Sasuke resists the urge to rub the bridge of his nose. It's not like his fangirls were any better. Maybe this would give his teammate an inkling of what it meant to be on the other side. He contemplates that thought for a moment before sighing.

Nope. No one deserved that little nightmare.

"She may have been obsessed with me-boys, with boys, at the Academy, but now she's pretty serious about working towards the Hokage seat before anything else. Just give up already."

Sasuke hoped the boy had missed his slip, but-nope, no luck. "I see, Sasuke-san. it was insensitive of me to ask you for advice given the depth of your own Flowering Feelings!"

Um. What.

"What possible gave you the impression that-that-" Sasuke felt off-balance, and for once at a loss for words beyond his own preference for silence. He doesn't like that feeling one bit. Seriously? What went on in this kid's mind?

"It is all right Sasuke-san. I understand."

What the hell do you think you understand?

"And of course, I shall respect Sakura-san's wishes. Truly her dream is just as Magnificent and Glorious as she herself is. Perhaps once she reaches it, she will allow me the honor of the chance to Woo her."

Nope. This was not a conversation he wanted to have.

"And you must not give up either Sasuke-san!"

Oh, he's totally willing to give up, lie down, and hope this conversation blows over. Perhaps the Nara were onto something?

"I declare you my most worthy Rival in the field of Love!"

An unnerving silence falls in the field.

"Please ignore my teammate. I know he's a bit...much, but he means well." Tenten cuts in with a sigh and Lee jumps as if he'd forgotten that she was still there, too caught up in his enthusiastic if rather one-sided conversation. Sasuke doesn't react at all, looking for all the world as if he were completely frozen.

Tenten looks over at him with concern, worried that he'd been overwhelmed. It happened often enough around the more boisterous half of her team.

Her concern changes targets when she sees the manic grin stretch across the Uchiha kid's face.

"Did you say...rival?" Sasuke's eyes gleam.

  


* * *

  


Sasuke feels like a feather could knock him over, but he's never felt more alive. He lost this spar as well but at least the green monster is winded from the match. Life feels pretty good right now.

"Sasuke-san! Your ninjutsu techniques are most fearsome and your Uchiha style taijutsu is most fierce! But, I have noticed that you drop your guard on your left a second before you attack in the last half of the matches, and your speed too goes down as you tire... Not that that makes you any less of an opponent of course! But one as motivated as you could certainly reach even higher. So, well.."

Sasuke looks over at the teen who's starting to hunch in on himself slightly, as if expecting him to get shut down for his advice post-match. He'd done this for all their matches in the last week, but his advice had never failed to strengthen Sasuke, so he'd never snapped at him for it. Perhaps Lee had another sparring partner who reacted negatively to his help? Pushing down the irrational jealousy Sasuke felt at the thought of his rival getting stolen, the young Uchiha just tilts his head questioningly and waits for the other to continue.

"Perhaps, you might wish to obtain some weights?" Lee asks with something closer to his usual level of confidence, gesturing to his own legs.

"...Hn."

"Excellent! Tenten's father owns a Most Excellent store for weapons and ninja gear! I am sure that there is none better in all of Konoha! No- in Hi no Kuni! But Sasuke-san, you should start off with a basic training weight first. As Gai-sensei says, shinobi tools must be respected, especially their potential for harm if misused! Oh, maybe Sensei would have some advice on what to start with? Yosh! We shall go to him tomorrow and-"

Yep. A rival sufficiently strong enough to pose a difficult challenge, motivated enough to keep moving up, and actively making him stronger. Life is good all right.

  


* * *

  


Life is very very irritating, Sasuke decides. Team Gai is a year senior to them, and in the short life of a ninja, that actually makes a difference in their overall experience levels. It also means that Team Gai is out of the village on C-ranks more often than not.

Sasuke is certainly not sulking over the absence of his rival. Of course not. He kicks a pebble and ignores the civilians chattering away in front of him as he heads back to the compound instead of the usual training ground he spars with Lee in.

He's just.. irritated. Who told Lee to invest in a rivalry if he can't bother to stay around and compete? Sasuke scowls.

Well fine! He could just track his own progress and compete against himself to improve. Who needs Lee anyway? Sasuke pointedly focuses on his steps to not think about the vague disappointment brewing in his gut.

"-and they were out of raspberry, which sucked, but hey I picked up chocolate instead so I figure Jiro-kun will be happy enough," the civilian in front of him says to her friend, holding up a tub of ice cream.

Sasuke freezes in place. Of course. Who said he could have only one rival? And with two rivals, perhaps he could get twice as strong!

He smirks slightly and runs back towards the training fields. He'd done it once already. Surely procuring a second rival would only be easier?

  


* * *

  


"aaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

  


* * *

  


Sasuke watches as the latest genin he'd found turns and runs away. His earlier irritation had returned with a vengeance. What was wrong with these genin? Honestly, it was like they'd never heard a challenge couched in a vague death threat before.

No. No, he's clearly going about this the wrong way. Lee has spoiled him for all other rivals, so he will need to make this selection with more consideration.

(He firmly pushes away the odd feeling that he's cheating on his rival. Nope, he was most certainly not acknowledging the fact that he even came up with such a thought to start with. Nope, nope nope. Thought? What thought?)

He pulls his mind back to the task at hand.

So. It has to be someone who was in the village as often as he was. That cut down every active-duty field ninja above chūnin rank as well as genin ranked ninja with over a year of training.

It has to be someone who could give him a challenge.

It has to be someone who would have reason to compete with him.

The last two were proving to be rather difficult to find. Someone who was well trained. Someone who has reason to compete against Uchiha Sasuke...

...wasn't there a Hyuuga in his graduating class? Hyuuga Hina? Hitana? Perhaps he should track them down. After all, the Hyuuga are the natural rivals of the Uchiha, everyone knows that - it was practically the natural order of things - and Lee's aggravating teammate did little to change his impression of them. (Though admittedly, Hyuuga Neji is abrasive to nearly everyone Sasuke has seen him interact with. Still, he can understand his ancestors' need to wipe that condescending smirk off the Hyuugas' faces, Sasuke muses, oblivious to the complete hypocrisy of the thought.) Of course, Why hadn't he thought of this sooner?

Admittedly, he can't actually remember her from the academy. Perhaps she had been in a different class? Surely there was no other way he could have missed noticing the heiress of his rival clan.

Feeling rather pleased with himself, Sasuke sets out to track down and challenge Hyuuga Hitana. Surely their rivalry will one day be the stuff of legends.

  


* * *

  


Sasuke scowls to himself. He isn't sure where he's gone wrong.

He'd managed to find her after a few false starts before finding out that her name was apparently Hyuuga Hinata. And when he'd challenged her to a match, she had actually agreed, despite her teammates rather vociferous protests. Sasuke found her mannerisms rather odd, but he could make out the determination to improve in her expression, as expected from his fated rival.

But.

She just would not strike him! Oh, others might mistake it for her being unable to land a good hit, but Sasuke could tell that she saw openings in his fighting style, set up her next moves to shift him further off balance, prepare a decisive strike ...and then hesitate and angle for a milder attack.

Did she not feel the drive to compete against an opponent? Or did she just consider a weak enough opponent that she didn't bother to take seriously? Or perhaps it was some other reason entirely. Sasuke is at least self-aware enough to know that perhaps, just maybe, he isn't the best person to go to regarding social interactions.

"Enough already Uchiha, what the hell are you trying to prove?" Kiba cuts in loudly, and _there_ is a classmate from the academy Sasuke would gladly forget. Unfortunately, even the jōnin sensei's frown just seems to grow deeper, and Sasuke knows that she only agreed to allow this match because Hinata had chosen to accept his challenge. He needs to hurry up and do something, or they'll cut him off from their teammate completely. But how does one motivate someone else to fight them seriously?

Unbidden, his mind flashes back to the start of his rivalry with Lee. Ah. Of course. Well then. Desperate times call for desperate measures.

"Hyuuga Hinata," he starts, his voice formal and intent. He sees her shift warily at the new intensity. "I hereby proclaim myself your Rival in the field of Love."

...

"WHat?" "EH?!"

Sasuke focuses on staying calm and not letting the blood rush to his cheeks. If there was anything he'd learned from being around Lee, it was that he could now fake a total lack of shame.

He waits for her to reply, certain that he is on the right track. It had worked once before after all, and that was more than he could say for any of his other approaches.

"Y-you mean..," Hinata stutters out and Sasuke nods. Yes, he definitely wants this rivalry.

Hinata has gone completely red, and Sasuke actually feels concerned for his potential rival. He understands being worked up for a good competition from Lee's reactions of course, but he worries that she might actually faint from the excitement.

"So you know that I... that I...!" Hinata continues, and Sasuke nods again, rather solemnly. Yes, he knows exactly how thrilled she must be feeling at the thought of their future clashes.

"I will not lose to you," Sasuke states, looking her in the eye.

"No," Everyone in the clearing barring Sasuke looks surprised at the steel in that one word. "No. You have belittled him and looked down on his dreams since the start of the academy. And now you suddenly claim to love him? No, I do not believe you." Hinata's stance shifts to a slightly more aggressive one and her voice no longer wavers. "I will not lose to you."

Him? Ah well, what works, works. Sasuke nods again rather happily, though you wouldn't be able to tell from his expression. "Let's see which of our words prove false then."

By the end of the day, Sasuke can't channel chakra at all and stops by the hospital, and Hinata's teammates look at her like they've never seen her before. Oddly enough, she rather likes it.

  


* * *

  


These days, Sakura is usually caught up in her rivalry with Naruto but she's noticed that Sasuke often shows up to team training looking exhausted and rather thrilled about it. Her obsession with Sasuke may have calmed down with her drive for the Hokage seat, but he's still her teammate and she worries. She can tell that Naruto does too, and if it's enough for that oblivious idiot to notice, then it's clearly not to be ignored.

She waits for training to end before bringing it up. "Um. Sasuke-kun? Are you okay?"

Sasuke looks at her quizzically, as if he has no clue why she would ask such a thing.

"Oy teme, she means that you always show up all tired and-and bruised and stuff. It's-It's- we're teammates damn it! Tell us who it is and we'll prank the hell out of them for you!"

Oh. "As if I'd be satisfied with this training. I've been getting stronger. Soon enough I'll defeat everyone in my path." Sasuke tells them, pats Naruto's shoulder, and walks away looking almost as if he was holding back a smile.

"Did he just...?" Naruto asks, his voice slightly dazed. Sakura looks back at him, eyes wide.

  


* * *

  


The Chunin exam comes and brings with it some interesting psychopathic foreign nin, interesting psychopathic local nin, and creepy snake people with even creepier biting fetishes that Sasuke could definitely have done without. Team Eight, Team Ten, and Team Gai had helped them hold him back for a few minutes; enough time for the ANBU to reach them before the snake sannin could get his fangs into Sasuke. Sasuke suppresses a shudder. But the time limit for the second round is finally over and there are 6 teams left. Meaning preliminaries. Sasuke has no intention of losing here, not after making it this far. A glance around him reveals that everyone else is of the same mind, ready to fight despite whatever injuries they have from the previous round. Well, except for the vaguely suspicious genin who bows out claiming injury even though his gait is the same as at the start of the exams.

Still, the odd numbers left means that one person will have to have two matches.

The first pair of lots are drawn, and the preliminary matches begin.

  


* * *

  


Naruto is matched up against Shino, which may seem like an easy win for the Aburame given that Nauto is a close-quarters brawler, but that's only if you're unaware of that massively disproportionate amount of chakra the blond has. Sakura and Sasuke just smirk. Kakashi may be smirking too, but who the hell can tell through that annoying mask of his.

Sure enough, Shino's chakra-eating bugs are soon dropping down, bloated, and Naruto easily knocks him out. And just like that, the first of the three of them is through to the finals.

Neji wins his match against a Suna kid in a cat-eared costume. Every single one of the Suna nin's poison-tipped weapons is expertly deflected and his puppet never makes it past the Byakugan wielder's admittedly impressive defense.

Then the sound-nin with the bandages is ruthlessly crushed by the redheaded kid from Suna and everyone is suddenly reminded that they should be taking these matches much more seriously.

Name after name is called, and Sasuke waits impatiently for his own turn. He watches all the other matches to take note of the other competitors' weaknesses, but the only other match that he's actually invested in is his other teammate's.

Sakura faces off against Ino, staying silent and focused as the other taunts her, trying to throw her off balance. The difference in their levels is apparent from the very first minute, and it only takes an earth wall that blocks the Yamanaka's line of sight, and a well-timed genjutsu for Sakura to sneak up on her and knock her out. Sakura stands back looking slightly cheated as the proctor announces her victory. Naruto cheers for her when she gets back and Sasuke offers her a nod, but even as she smiles back at them, her expression remains troubled. Sasuke vaguely remembers that the Yamanaka had been her Rival in Love back at the academy and gives her a sympathetic look. Yes, if one of his Rivals had let him down like that, he would have been upset too.

And then two of the remaining five are called and it's clear who the last matchups would be. A shark-like grin stretches across Sasuke's face and the teams closest to them shuffle away. His own team just looks resigned to this reaction.

Of course the last three left would be himself and his rivals. Sasuke expects nothing less from the universe.

  


* * *

  


When the match between the last two non-Konoha genin finishes and they're both led off by the medics - the winner actually worse off than the loser who was merely unconscious - Sasuke waits with bated breath to see who the next pairing will be. He knows which ones he hopes for, but there was always the chance that it would be Lee facing Hinata with the winner fighting him in the last match.

The board goes black for a second, before lighting up with names drawn for the next match, and Sasuke feels a wave of relief and anticipation.

Sasuke jumps down to the stadium and locks eyes with Hinata as she steps down on the other side of the proctor. Anticipation tinged with a dose of well-learned caution hums through his veins. Hinata looks back with a light smile and sharp eyes. This is familiar territory and yet not, and to them, the air is crackling with the promise of a good fight.

"Begin!"

Sasuke leaps away first and throws down a smoke bomb, knowing that engaging the Hyuuga in taijutsu with no tricks set up would be tantamount to forfeiting. Hinata will be able to see through it easily with the Byakugan, but right now her limit to its use is around 3 minutes every hour or so. If he can get her to use up the time without any chakra depletion of his own, then all the better for him.

Of course, this has the expected but unfortunate effect of him being the one at a disadvantage within the smokescreen but it's still his best option at the moment. The instant between when the smoke spread and before his opponent activates her Byakugan will have to be enough.

Sasuke focuses on her chakra and lets his growing familiarity with the Gentle Fist technique direct his movements to evade the first strike, but he can't fully escape the second and third, and his left arm is soon hanging uselessly at his side. Sasuke grimaces. He can't afford to fall too far back before he implements his strategy or else he will soon be left with all his major tenketsu blocked. Before the next strike can land, his arm snakes out, viper fast, and deflects it using one of the Hyuuga's own gentle fist moves that he'd seen Hinata use. He jumps up to gain distance, forming the ram seal with a single hand, and immediately there's a blast, blowing some of the smoke back. Hinata stands at the center of the explosion radius, swaying slightly and pulling the remnants of a low powered explosion seal he'd tagged her with while deflecting her hand. The explosion was not enough for permanent injury but it was enough to take her right wrist out for the count for this match.

He can hear noise from the railings, the genin present finally able to see the contestants fight, but that observation was relegated to a distant part of his mind. He can't afford to lose focus now. Hinata may look slightly unsteady but her mental stamina and control over her body were enormous, and with each match, she pushed past her current limits - sometimes enough to warrant a trip to the hospital when they were done. Not that he was any better at that.

Still, two minutes and forty seconds. If she wants to make a charge leveraging her Byakugan with the time she has left, then this is the time. He's just starting to regain movement with his left arm but he wouldn't be able to channel chakra for another five minutes even if he overloaded his chakra pathways. He just needs to last past that. Just a bit more. Just a bit further.

Sure enough, the attack comes within seconds, jabs and palm strikes unerringly seeking out the tenketsu on his arm, his leg, his torso. Sasuke is faster, but just barely, and it's only because she has just one working arm left that he can dodge them all.

Another thrust barely evaded.

Just a bit more.

A palm strike that nearly grazes his sternum. The prominent veins around Hinata's eyes flicker back out of view.

Just. A bit more.

The next strike comes fast on the heels of the previous one and as he focuses on it, the world explodes into crystal clarity. Suddenly he can tell exactly where it was headed. Suddenly he can see all the minute twitches that give Hinata's next move away; ones that he could rarely catch earlier.

The Sharingan he thinks in awe and a bit of disbelief, but he quickly tucks that feeling away. Reading her next moves makes the fight decidedly easier, especially as her dōjutsu has just reached its limit, but if he doesn't hold on to his physical reaction time, one hit could end the match.

Still, he has a plan, and without her all-seeing eyes activated, it was time to put it into play.

He sends a fireball jutsu hurtling towards Hinata. She dodges to the side, and in the instant her attention shifts away, he makes the ram seal, unsealing the storage scroll he had dropped in one of the pits in the ground earlier, now barely a foot behind him.

She lunges at him again, trying to draw the fight into a close-ranged match that would give her the advantage. Sasuke kind of wants to see how he would fare against the Gentle Fist with his Sharingan activated, but he'll have time for that later. For now, he fakes a dodge to the left, plants his hand on the ground, and kicks up diagonally - a bastardized version of a move Lee often uses.

Hinata dodges, but she's off-balance in the air and doesn't quite notice where she lands. She looks back in shock at her leg - now sinking slightly into the tar filled pit he'd created, and before she can recover, Sasuke's behind her, tagging her good hand with an explosive and holding a kunai to her throat.

"Yield"

Hinata stills and Sasuke can tell that she's thinking rapidly, trying to find a route to continue. But he can activate the tag faster than she can strike, given that she has to reach around to get to him. The kunai at her neck prevents her from shifting her center of gravity too much. She can't lift either of her feet off the ground. This match is his and her shoulders slump marginally as she realizes that.

"It took me a while to see it, but your dedication to prove yourself shines every time you fight Sasuke-san. I can respect your commitment to Naruto-kun and saw with my own two eyes the depth of your feelings for him in the Forest of Death. I am honored that you consider me your rival."

Once, Sasuke might have scoffed and walked away, but now he has people he respects, people whose opinions he actually bothers with. "Likewise," he replies with a nod of his head, so used to the outrageous statements in both his rivalries that he doesn't quite realize the implications of agreeing with this one in public. Or at least, the implications of not objecting to a certain part of it.

Sasuke cannot see her expression from this angle but he can tell that she's smiling slightly as she calls out to the proctor, "I yield this match."

The medics come to patch Hinata up and extract her from the field. He won't be healed until his last match is complete. Elated from the thrill of winning a good match and acquiring his Sharingan, he almost doesn't catch the loud 'EEHHH?!' that rings out from where his teammates are sitting. He looks back to see Naruto leaning over the rails and indulges in a brief activation of his Sharingan to see him looking over, rather wide-eyed but otherwise unharmed. Sasuke has no idea why he's behaving oddly. But at least he doesn't have a choice but to notice Sasuke now. Ha! He smirks at Naruto, who goes as red as a tomato for some reason. Weirdo.

Sasuke shrugs and deactivates his dōjutsu. He might have more chakra than Hinata, but he still doesn't know the limits of how long he can keep his Sharingan active after all. Best save that for his next match.

  


* * *

  


Sasuke can barely stand, his legs shaking and threatening to give way. But he's done it! Of course, the match would have gone very differently if Lee hadn't been badly injured in the Forest of Death, so it doesn't quite count. Still, winning against Lee is a rare enough thing that he savors it for now as the proctor announces his victory. There's no doubt that he's gotten stronger since he started out.

Sasuke makes his way over to where Lee is lying, pinned to the wall with a rather embarrassing excess of ninja wire and mesh wraps he'd used to keep Lee from taking off his weights.

Lee looks exhausted from blood loss due to reopened wounds as his sensei untangles and lowers him down for the medics to take over. Lee turns his head as he is shifted, stopping and grinning at Sasuke despite his state. "That was a Most Excellent match Sasuke-san. I cannot think of a Worthier Rival, be it for this match or the chance to win the Lovely yet Fearsome Sakura-san's heart!"

Sasuke gives his injuries a pointed look and says, "We're absolutely having a rematch once you're properly healed." Lee assents to this as enthusiastically as he can - which is actually quite a considerable amount seeing as he's being taken out on a stretcher - so perhaps Sasuke can be forgiven for not noticing the wail of despair coming from Ino, or the way Sakura gapes at him, her face turning red enough to match her blond teammate's. Sakura trades a glance with Naruto before the two go back to staring at their teammate a little too intently.

Sasuke just looks satisfied with how his matches went and is completely oblivious to everything else. Kakashi despairs.

  


* * *

  


Sasuke slowly heads back up the stairs as a few chūnin drop into the ring, trying to fix it for the Hokage's concluding speech. He's smiling, slightly, but for once he doesn't quite mind.

His contentment doesn't even sour when he sees his teammates caught up in whispering and gesturing to each other but he can't help feeling slightly disappointed. Even now, they don't see him, too caught up in each other and-

And they both break off with cherry red faces when they spot him. What?

He frowns, confused, and tilts his head in a silent question.

The two exchange another glance, but before Sasuke can get irritated Sakura says, "Ah, ano, Sasuke-kun we didn't realize- That is- Of course we have an answer for you! Um, we-"

What?

"What she's trying to say is that we didn't know. Why didn't you tell us?" Naruto sounds more flustered than irritated and that only adds to Sasuke's bafflement.

"What?"

"We accept!" Sakura blurts out, and Naruto nods even as his ears go red. It's oddly endearing but doesn't really clear anything up.

Accept what? What do you accept??

"And, and you don't have to worry! We won't make you choose!" Naruto actually looks bashful as he slings an arm over Sasuke's shoulders. "When I become Hokage, I'll have a huge house, and all three of us can live there! Believe it!"

Sasuke blinks.

"No, when _I_ become Hokage, _I'll_ have a huge house where all three of us can live! Shannaro!"

Sasuke turns his head to give Kakashi-sensei a beseeching look as they start bickering again.

For all of a second, Kakashi considers stepping in and clearing up this maybe-misunderstanding. Then he promptly puts his book back into his pouch and gives them a hurried wave. "Woops, would you look at the time! There's this appointment that I really should get to. Wouldn't want to be late, after all. Ja ne!"

The other teachers just stare at the pile of leaves left behind in patent disbelief.

Sasuke regrets all his life choices. Except, he thinks as his teammates settle on either side of him, his sensei's chakra presence somewhere in the rafters as he watches after them, and the satisfying exhaustion of excellent matches against his rivals and the drain of his newly acquired Sharingan - Except, well, he really doesn't.

Quietly, his smile returns.

**Author's Note:**

> Even though this fic doesn't really take itself seriously, it was pretty fun to write and any feedback would be much appreciated. Thanks and stay safe!  
> \- Blue


End file.
